Permission to let kids beat you with sticks

Let me start by saying naginata armor is a big investment, and nonetheless I had been thinking about buying my own anyway, though struggling over what to do with it when I eventually leave Matsue. However, the teachers at the Shimane Martial Arts Hall knew of my interest in eventually taking part in competitions and rounded together some used armor for me! At this point, I still lack a helmet/mask similar to the ones used in kendo, but I have a torso-guard, gloves suited for changing your grip on a long weapon, and shin gaurds for the ankle strikes.

So far I’ve only practiced in armor a few times, and have yet to spar. The main difference being that my partners–usually elementary school girls who are far more experienced than I am–hit my ankles directly instead of having me block them. I still need to gaurd my head, but since they all have helmets, I hit them directly when we practice. Of course, this has startled my friends who have come to watch my practices.

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7 Responses to “Permission to let kids beat you with sticks”

So Kendo has the bamboo swords. and you practice with lance/spear or is it truly a stick. I believe and please correct me and teach me right that most of those arts come from the country as farmers protecting themselves. And yes I love to learn.

It’s a good thing you like to learn, because this is a delicious can of worms!

The naginata is a type of Japanese sword. “Japanese sword” usually makes people think of a katana one carries in a sheath dangling at their side, but anything from a short dirk to the blade on the end of a long handle (the naginata) counts as a sword. A practice naginata is made of two kinds of wood–usually something strong like white oak for the base, and then something more flexible like bamboo for the curved blade because it can been replaced more easily if it suffers damage from powerful impact. Unlike a spear (“yari”), the naginata has a curved blade, making it more suitable for swinging strikes rather than stabbing strikes.

As for the origins of weapons, this varies depending on each country and time period, as well as the type of weapon and what it is made out of. Weapons like Japanese swords that require very precise and labor-intensive processes are naturally more expensive, and even in earlier eras the nobility had more say in how to use the iron supply (for farming tools or tools of war), so it is easy to see how good quality weapons–and the time it takes for martial training–was relegated to either the elites or the people protecting the elites. If you want to go back much, much further before the elites became elites, then you may be on to something, though that’s a question more for anthropology in general. Interesting as I find it, I am not an expert. As a side note, ninja were typically farmers by day, so it’s likely no coincidence that their tools resemble farming tools. : )

As for the origins of the naginata, no one is quite sure of its first use in Japan, though it may have been influenced by the Chinese “Guan Dao” that had a long, curved blade on a strong staff (while I don’t know the earliest origins of this weapon, it is named after a very famous general, imply that it was a weapon fit for an esteemed person). In Japan, it has probably been used since the 10th, 11th, or 12th century (scholars disagree), and was especially helpful against horsemen. They were less commonly used in warfare once firearms came into broad use, but they remained a martial practice and a weapon kept in a samurai home to defend the premises.

That’s my rambling but short answer based on my general history of studying Asian culture–I humbly suggest doing research from more specialized sources if it interests you! ^_^

Oh thank you so much. I do not call this a rambling. I thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I now have a smile ear to ear. Again thank you. Already learned a lot and surely will do follow up research.
Keep smiling and how are you doing in the Kimono competition?

This Monday I also got part of the armor for the first time :) Only for torso and shin, the rest I’ll get later (I’m borrowing them from the club). The club only has kendo gloves, which is not useful XD But maybe I can borrow naginata gloves from someone later.

No, you’d be a little stuck with kendo gloves! XD The naginata gloves I use have been through a lot of use, but the grip is nice–they’re funny knobby things, though. The part that really throws me off is the torso gaurd, since you’re always hitting something when you take the “hasso” position, and it even makes a clunking sound. That said, I love the satisfying clack that shin guards have when you hit them.

I can’t use the gloves yet anyway, as I have horrible eczema on my arms at the moment XD So I can practice with the torso and shin guards for a bit first.
But most people at the club have used kendo gloves for a bit too, until they bought naginata gloves.

Yes, I noticed that I always hit the torso guard when doing hasso or sokomen or something… It takes a bit of getting used to!